by Oxford, Rain
“We talked about this, Logan,” one of the wizards said.
“You talked, I considered. Darwin Mason has been reported to show non-human traits akin to his parents. Thus, I am giving him the opportunity to prove his skills. Whether he passes your test or not, I am not expelling him from my school.”
Half of the wizards on the council looked worried, including Grayson, while the other half looked outraged. Vincent and Watson stared thoughtfully at Darwin as Remington smiled proudly at her father. “If you allow throwbacks into the school, we will remove all wizards,” Kale snarled.
I recognized the joyful glint in his eyes from other unsightly characters I had to deal with on my cases. He wanted this. He wanted the council to pull the students, since the loss of more than a third of the student body would force the school to close. It would also give him what he needed to convince the council that Hunt was trouble.
I noticed Hunt specifically not looking at Vincent. Ghost yowled furiously and vanished. I had a sinking feeling something was going down, either with Gale or the shadow walkers. Hunt shifted restlessly and leaned over to whisper something to Watson, who nodded.
“If that’s the case, then I will quit so the wizards don’t have to lose out on their education,” Darwin said.
All eyes focused instantly on him. “You haven’t even been tested yet,” Grayson said. “If you have magic or can shift, then there’s no need to–”
Darwin shook his head. “I can accept my fate. Thank you for your time.” Darwin turned to walk out, but I blocked his path.
“You’re not quitting.” I pushed my way into his mind and, though he scowled at me, he didn’t fight it. “We went through all this work for you to be here. You can’t quit now.”
“I don’t want to use your power; all I would be doing is proving to myself that I’m a cheater. I’m not going to risk getting the school shut down. But I’m not quitting, either. I’m going to go home, hug my dad, log into my computer, and destroy the wizard council. Every damn one of them.”
He shot Kale a glare. Although the wizard was looking away, he shuddered. Since I was already facing their direction, I saw Vincent’s purple eye lighten an instant before both his eyes widened and he stood. Black smoke surrounded my uncle as he shouted something to Hunt, who immediately stood as well. They both vanished, leaving everyone at the table except for Watson looking confused.
“What did he say?” I asked.
“He said that Keigan had the key. How are your instincts feeling?”
“Fine. Why?”
“Because the two most powerful wizards have just left the entire council alone with Watson. If Watson is trying to take out the council, I can’t see a better chance.”
“Remy, would you mind escorting Devon and Darwin back to their room so we can talk in private?” Watson asked kindly.
My instincts fired up; danger was coming.
The torches on the wall all simultaneously died, bathing the room in darkness. Fire came alive on the floor, spreading in a thin line to surround the table and all the wizards sitting at it. I pushed Darwin towards the door and away from the circle of fire. The fire formed symbols inside the circle, scattering the wizards like roaches from the light.
“I’ve seen this before in one of Langril’s books,” Darwin said. “It’s a trap.”
I recognized the symbols when he said it. “It’s to drain the powers of whoever is inside it. I know how to break it… sort of.”
Before I could explain, Remy started shouting profanities. The reason for it was Len standing two feet in front of her. His eyes were solid black and his skin was charred as he reached slowly, rigidly, for her throat. In an instant, she had a gun in hand and shot him in the shoulder. Like a zombie, he didn’t even notice. So, like anyone who knew how to kill a zombie, she shot him right between the eyes. He faltered from the force of the bullet and reached for her again.
Watson pulled her away, picked her up, and calmly walked through the wall of fire. When he set her down, his shirt was burning, but Remy was fine. He absentmindedly patted the flame out as if brushing off a little dirt and considered the wizards trapped in the circle thoughtfully.
Because of the pattern of the burn, I noticed he wore a talisman of some kind under his shirt like Vincent did. “Why didn’t the fire burn you?” I asked him.
“I can handle it,” he said evasively.
I saw his back as he turned and realized I spoke too soon. Part of his dress robe was burned through and I saw a patch of burnt flesh. He could burn. “Do you know how to break this circle?” I asked.
He nodded. “I do, but it takes two people.”
“I’ll help,” Remy volunteered instantly.
“I need a potion from Keigan. Tell him what happened and he’ll know which one. Hurry, or they could all die.” He was lying to get her out of the room, and for good reason. If anything happened to Remington, her father would be out for blood. The spell did take two people, but Remy was everything to Hunt and she would be protected whether she liked it or not.
She hesitated only for a second before running to do as he asked. Len grabbed Kale by the throat and lifted him until his feet dangled. It probably wasn’t the strength of the dead wizard’s grip that caused Kale to thrash and choke out a scream, but the fact that his skin was burning. From Len’s grip spread a severe burn. I couldn’t imagine the pain. Even though Kale was a deplorable ass, nobody deserved to die that way.
“I know how to break the circle,” I said. “Can you get back in there?”
He nodded. “You know it must be done in perfect sync?”
“Yes. Let me and Darwin in your head and we’ll do it from this side.”
Without responding, he walked right back into the circle and pulled Len off Kale. His hand burned on contact, but he didn’t seem to care. He shoved Len on the ground and stepped on Len’s chest, presumably to hold the dead wizard down. “Ready,” he said evenly.
“Darwin, use the amulet,” I said through our link that was still open. As he prepared himself, I reached out for the most powerful mind in the circle. Although the circle was difficult to penetrate, it was the man’s mind that was an obstacle.
Maybe he wasn’t a dragon, but he sure as hell wasn’t human. His brain was like a cave that was too hot, too cold, too wet, and too dry. No memories or stray thoughts met my consciousness, only the exact instructions on what we were about to do. His was a mind that would be both very fun and terribly dangerous to try to control and I was fortunate I didn’t have to.
I sensed when Darwin was ready. “We have to do this at the exact same time, so make sure we do,” I told my young roommate. Since I was also in Watson’s mind, he heard the plan as well. It was actually a pretty basic spell; doing it simultaneously with someone else was the difficult part.
The circle was created to protect a person from the entity inside it. Of course, the entity wasn’t supposed to be able to walk out like Watson had; it was meant to contain something as powerful as a demon.
Don’t think about that. I pictured the release enchantment and felt the professor picturing it too. Darwin was making sure there was no back-and-forth between us; we had to think the exact same thing at the exact same time.
Fire built up inside me, unbelievably powerful. It was my magic brought on by the counter-spell. This time, it wasn’t only symbols that appeared in my head; chanting of some foreign language filled my mind, as well as the fierce desire to free the magic created in the circle. It was fire just as mine was, but it was created from vastly different intentions.
New symbols of fire formed inside and around the circle… but this new fire was blue.
I felt a strange release of tension, which wasn’t right. The magic wasn’t released like it was supposed to be; it was absorbed. My power along with Watson’s and the energy already inside the circle was absorbed by some entity so powerful I couldn’t even feel it, let alone read its mind.
The fire died, the link between Watson and
me broke, and the councilmen scattered. Len, however, stumbled to his feet. He reached for Watson’s throat. Watson held his hand flat towards Len and a bright red ball of light shot at the dead wizard, hit him in the chest, and vanished. Len was thrown back several feet.
He didn’t get back up again.
“What the hell was that?” Remy screeched from the door behind us. Langril was nowhere to be seen.
“That,” Watson patted imaginary dirt off his shirt, “was Darwin using his magic to save everyone.” All eyes turned to Darwin, who made a weird, half-cough, half squeak. “Still think he is a throwback?”
They were too stunned to agree or disagree. I picked up and pocketed the amulet that Darwin dropped to hide it from the council. “Well, we have a lot of studying to do.” Darwin followed me out and once the door closed behind me, I pulled the amulet from my pocket. After a moment of running my fingers over the engraved metal, I scoffed. “Huh. Interesting.”
“What is?” he asked.
I handed it to him. “Interesting as in this is a fake.”
* * *
Instead of returning to our room, we went to Hunt’s office. On the way, I felt the sudden need to stop and go in a different direction. Darwin sighed as I did so without a word, but he followed me anyway.
We were in a particular hallway when my instincts stopped pushing. “Maybe it was a false alarm,” Darwin suggested as I looked around.
“Yeah, that must be it,” I answered, reaching for the nearest light sconce. Instead of turning the gas off, I pressed the knob in and heard a soft sound of metal sliding against metal. “Oh, it’s this again. Ghost led me here before.” I pushed against the wall to the left of the sconce. A two-foot wide section gave, forming a narrow doorway into a dark passage.
I reached for my penlight and found my pocket empty. Damn. I had left it on my desk.
“I got it, bro,” Darwin said, holding up the one I gave him.
I went first and Darwin followed behind, although it was considerably easier for him to get through. It was about twenty minutes later that my instincts told me to stop. Low to the ground on our right was a wooden, flexible panel and a thin metal handle. Darwin clicked off the light I pulled the panel open.
Dark glass separated us from the room we looked into from the fireplace, just like before. In fact, it was the same office and the same people. Only this time, Dr. Martin was pacing and Professor Langril was sitting in a high-back chair in front of the fireplace. Fortunately, the fire wasn’t going, or the scene would have been impossible to make out.
“We may have to kill Logan,” Langril said.
Dr. Martin sighed. “I refuse to kill anyone. I like this place. I like this life. He does need to shut down the school, though.”
Langril scoffed. “He never will. Not after losing half the last semester.”
“Then we’ll lose a lot more students.”
“He is blinded without Rosin, and the fastest way to get Rosin to come back is to kill Logan. Whether Rosin saves him or not, it sounds like a win-win to me.”
“I thought you wanted Rosin out of the way.”
“Out of my way, not Logan’s. Rosin is the only one keeping Logan from becoming just as bad as Krechea. It starts with an obsession; for Krechea, it was to destroy me, for Logan, it is to destroy the tower. The next step is a major loss, which will only drive him deeper into his obsession.”
“Are you not afraid of going down that very path?”
Langril frowned thoughtfully at the fireplace, his eyes very nearly meeting mine. He grinned and I thought for a moment that he saw me. “If Vincent or Logan get the last key, I’m going back home before they can destroy the tower.”
“But… If Rosin is gone, they can’t destroy it.”
“He’ll be back. Right now, I think Devon is the only one who can get the key before Krechea does. If Krechea gets it, then we’re all dead, so I would rather Devon succeed. If that means I have to help Logan and Vincent, so be it.” He stood and faced the doctor. “Logan should be back by now.”
“Where did he go?”
“He and Vincent thought that I had the key.”
“Why would they think that?”
Instead of answering, Langril started for the door and vanished halfway there.
* * *
It took Darwin and me half an hour to make it to Hunt’s office. Not bothering to eavesdrop, I knocked and Hunt told us to come in. Hunt was in the chair behind his desk, Vincent was sitting on the chair in front of the fireplace, and Langril was on the couch.
“Has the council hurt Henry?” Darwin asked.
Vincent shook his head. “Not yet. They do consider Ms. Scout’s word as proof, though. They voted to execute him if they don’t find his parents dead or alive by Monday. I convinced them to push it back to the end of the month.” He held up his hand before Darwin could protest. “I will break him out before then. Right now, he is being very cooperative without admitting anything, which is good because if we do find his parents, the council will be too embarrassed to ever doubt him again.”
“Are they looking for his parents?”
“No. I do have someone tracking Ms. Scout, in case she knows where they are.”
“One of Gale’s powers that he got from the amulet was the vampire thrall,” I said. “Gale is probably doing this; he probably used it on Holli to make her believe Henry killed them.”
He grimaced. “Actually, I met this girl when she came to the council. It is more likely she’s lying for personal gain.”
“Maybe, but I still think we shouldn’t forget Gale. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of person to give up. More importantly, we need to worry about the students. Len, Kristen, and Conner are dead. Caleb and Nathan are in critical condition.”
“What happened in the auditorium? Remy said Lenard Newman attacked,” Hunt said.
“He did.”
“He is dead.”
“Does that ever stop anyone anymore?” I asked. Professor Langril laughed. “So please tell me how a dead person goes for a walk, because the only thing that comes to mind is a necromancer. I really don’t like that.”
“I am afraid the answer may be worse than that.”
“Worse than a necromancer? Is there such a thing?”
“There are loads of things worse than necromancers,” Darwin said. “Not all necromancers are all bad.”
“Last semester, your golems were possessed. Did Krechea and the shadow walkers take it up a notch?”
Langril shook his head. “The longer the key is missing, the stronger they get, but not this strong. There is absolutely no way he has enough power to do this here.”
“Are you sure none of the shadow walkers are loyal to you?” Hunt asked.
“My followers were all loyal to me once, but those who didn’t bow to Krechea were killed when he took over.” He considered me for a moment. “I was what you could call a priest.”
“To the shadow walkers?”
“Yes.”
“Who are they?”
“When they followed me, they were sort of guardians. Now, they are my greatest enemy. When Krechea attacked Heather, I left them to protect her. Krechea took over and used the magic I spent my entire life learning.”
“If Krechea isn’t powerful enough, who is?” None of them had an answer. “What if he found a way to get stronger?”
“He would need someone here to help him, and they would have to have a lot of power of their own.”
Darwin grasped my arm tightly. “Did you see that?”
“See what?” I asked.
“Movement in the shadows.”
“The more you know, the closer you are to getting the key, the closer Krechea will be to killing you,” Hunt said, standing. “For your own safety, you must leave this to us.”
“He never will,” Vincent told him.
“He isn’t ready,” Langril said, agreeing with Hunt.
“Yeah, talk about me like I’m not here; that is way bette
r than actually telling me what’s going on.”
“We are trying to protect you,” Vincent said.
Just then, the door opened and Nightshade stepped in. “There’s a problem. Two, actually. The bodies of Len, Kristen and Conner are gone, and the council just ordered the school to be quarantined.
* * *
Professor Nightshade was waiting for me when I got to the burn field. “What have you learned about fire?”
“I learned that passion is just as much associated with fire as anger. I also learned that fire can destroy something, but it’s not merely destructive. People have used fire as a source of light, heat, and cooking since the time of cavemen. I also realize that I really know very little about it, yet I use it all the time. It might be the most complicated element so far.”
She smiled. “That’s a good start. You’re already comfortable with making fire, right?” I nodded. “Then today, we’re going to work on your control over fire. If you can control the fire you wield, you can control the fire in your heart.”
“So I can control who I love?”
“If that were possible, everyone would know about it. Is there someone you love who you wish you didn’t?”
“I’m not sure what I want anymore.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “I know I don’t look it or act it, but I’m far older than you. I can tell you that love is beautiful. It can also hurt for no reason. The one you love can hurt you more than anyone else in the world and with one simple word. It changes you, sometimes into something you don’t want to be, something you hate. It can make you do stupid things for stupid reasons. Some days, you can’t breathe, even if it’s going well, because you know nothing lasts forever. When it ends, it’s the worst pain imaginable, yet sometimes, not ending it can hurt worse. It can kill you.”
“How is that beautiful? Why would anyone want that?”
“Because there is nothing better to live for.” She waved her right hand in a circular motion at the candles around us and they all instantly lit. “Blow it out.”
“I haven’t used air yet. Hell, that’s the one I couldn’t do in the board room before the first day of school.” Of course, she knew that. She also wasn’t my air elemental mentor, which meant either she was just messing with me (which was entirely possible) or I could do it with fire.
